Sweet and Sour
by Diana-Jae
Summary: Botan: Completely unaffected by the charms of Meiou Academy's most soughtafter bachelor. Has Shuuichi finally met his biggest challenge or is she his biggest competition? HieixBotan SHuuichixBotan
1. Enter the Urameshi Gang

**Sweet and Sour**

**Chapter 1 – Enter the Urameshi Gang**

**By: Diana-Jae**

It was considerably early when Yuusuke Urameshi and his three companions reached the front steps of the massive and almost maze-like campus of Meiou Academy, but the crowd of bustling students scattered about proved otherwise. Many of the returning students had already banded together with their close friends and formed little cliques in selected areas of the school while those new to the academy were either busily trying to look for their next class or engaged in worshipping their upper classmen.

The group of young men that stood at its threshold showed no fear of the threat of discipline, work, and size that the school seemed to produce from its very walls. They had no reason to.

For Yuusuke Urameshi, Kazuma Kuwabara, Hiei Jaganshi, and Shuuichi Minamino, this was to be their fourth and final year of high school before they were to be let loose to the universities or the real world, whichever was preferred by the individual. They had already undergone the tortures of the first three years and now knew exactly how and which buttons to push to allow their teachers to better their juvenile lives, and they were not afraid to put this knowledge into effect. Senior year was, more or less, going to be a piece of cake, and they all seemed to hold this concept.

"Shit…" The trailing curse that fell from Hiei's lips drew the attention of the other three boys, and they didn't hesitate to place their attention on him. Realizing this without tearing his gaze from the campus for his friends, he simply shrugged and muttered, "Beginning of the year's always a fuckin' jungle."

Kuwabara slowly nodded in agreement. "Freshmen."

They all understood. It was common knowledge that any first year would just as easily get lost in this location as shit their pants if confronted by Principal Daioh. Their scuttling about in order not to miss the bell for their first class did not contribute to the upper class-men's socializing in the hallway, for that itself was already terrible to get through.

Yuusuke cast a meaningful glance at Shuuichi, who stood with his head cocked to the side, bright green eyes observing the scene himself. "Well, except for Minamino. This place has got to be like a playhouse for him. Freshman girls equal new meat. Do the math, boys."

Shuuichi said nothing, only allowing as much as a subtle grin to grace his lips before walking towards the towering building of their high school. His comrades looked at one another and couldn't decide whether to groan or chuckle immaturely at the single thought that ran impishly in their heads.

_Shuuichi Minamino was, once again, on the prowl._

Upon entering the senior hallway and seeing a few couples walking around with hands entwined, Kuwabara immediately excused himself from Yuusuke and Hiei, scurrying off and mentioning something about seeing his girlfriend. Hiei cringed at that. Though Kuwabara had courted his younger sister just before their summer break had started, Hiei was still in the state of getting used to it. It wasn't so much that Hiei didn't want them dating. Before Kuwabara had even courted her, there was already an unsaid agreement between him and Hiei that if he hurt Yukina, Hiei would have the right to kick his ass. He was simply just over-protective of his twin.

"I have to shove my bag in there… somehow," Yuusuke groaned and then motioned his head to one end of the hallway where his locker was inconveniently located. Inconveniently because his locker happened to be beside Shuuichi's, and where ever it was that Shuuichi was, so were about twenty other gushing schoolgirls, and at the moment, Shuuichi was managing about ten of the females who were showering him with their undivided attention. It wasn't so much the girls that Yuusuke minded so much; they were simply just a pain to get through when the only thing on their minds was Shuuichi.

Hiei shook his head. "Bloody hell no I'm not going in _that_," he replied dryly, albeit steadfastly, and then added, "How can he stand it? They look like they're trying to decide which part of him they wanna have for lunch."

Yuusuke sniggered and smartly replied, "Knowing Minamino, he'll probably end up eating them first." He was about to laugh at his own joke when he heard himself shriek at the sound of a chastising feminine voice calling his name. If exaggerated, Yuusuke could have been seen clinging onto Hiei from his fright. Yuusuke knew exactly who it was. No one ever called him by both his first and last name with such a dominating tone for fear of being decked in the face except Keiko Yukimura, his girlfriend, and the only person who had the power to make him squeak in public.

Keiko had obviously heard what he said, and finding it completely out of line and disgusting, Yuusuke found himself looking at a figure of Keiko who had both her hands on her hips and bright red flames of fury in her typically sweet, hazel irises.

Hiei rolled his eyes and strategically picked the right moment to slip away from his friend and the so-called "scary" girlfriend. Jamming his hands into his pockets, he turned the corner to head for his own locker, when he felt someone daintily tap him on the shoulders. He whirled around and was initially met with a mop of sky-blue hair.

"Excuse me, but could you tell me where the gym is? I think that's where my first class is."

Hiei had not immediately been able to get a complete view of the person who had tapped him due to his height in comparison to the person he was supposed to be looking at. But judging by the soft, feminine voice, he had no choice but to assume he was looking at someone female. A female, that is, who spoke broken Japanese and with a terrible… German accent.

A deep crease formed on his forehead for a moment as he stepped back in order to get a better view of whom he was speaking to. She seemed like freshman material. It was safe to assume that she was, at least, because only a first year would have difficulty in finding a certain place in the entire academy. However, the young woman that stood before him, who was now wearing an expression of resignation possibly due to assuming she had not asked her question correctly, did not look like a freshman. At the lowest, she must have been a third year, and a beautiful one at that. Hiei stood there for a while longer studying her, momentarily pondering if she'd already met Shuuichi, and if she hadn't, how long it would take Shuuichi to find this girl and flirt her to death, if he hadn't done so already.

Hiei shook his head to clear his head of any obtrusive thoughts and went on to give the girl a response. "It's on the second floor." Under normal circumstances, he would have simply left it that, but for some reason, he heard himself offer to take her there.

Her exotic pair of large, lavender eyes seemed to sparkle with gratitude, but she said nothing and opted to just follow him.

"Kazunari?"

She looked up surprised. "Sorry?"

"Is that your instructor?"

She clumsily fished through her bag and pulled out a folded piece of paper. The girl read through it quickly and then nodded. "I think so. Physical Education 7-8 B with Rio Kazunari."

Hiei could not help the slight twitch of his lips. He found her accent cutely entertaining, but he kept that thought to himself and simply motioned his head forward. "I have the same class."

"I don't know what it is they see in you," muttered Yuusuke as two girls walked past and started giggling like mad as they cast shy glances at Shuuichi beside him. "You aren't even cute."

Shuuichi momentarily ignored his friend in order to tease the girls' affection with a flirtatious smile and then shut his locker closed. "Says you who has a girlfriend," he paused and suddenly a mischievous glint appeared in his bright green eyes. "Unless, of course, there's something you'd wish to tell me."

Yuusuke blanched at his friend's implication. "I'm straight, you stupid bastard." He slammed his own locker shut and prepared to walk through the traffic of students loitering in the hallway to class. "And even if I weren't, I still would have the sense not to mindlessly surrender my affection for you." Clearing his throat, he turned towards Shuuichi and tried his best impersonation of one of his friend's women admirers. "Oh, Shuuichi. I'm so madly in love with you. Please go out with me."

A low chuckle slipped from his friend's lips before slowly slipping into the traffic of students scurrying to get to their lockers, gossip groups, or next class. "Keiko once confessed," he teased.

"Keyword there, Minamino, is _did_."

"It's fine. She wasn't my type anyway," he paused and eyed his companion meaningfully. "And I'm not just saying that because she's immune to my god-given charms now."

Yuusuke rolled his eyes in regards to Shuuichi's blatant self-confidence and evident narcissism. "Since you bring it up, what exactly is your type, Minamino?"

"What?"

"Well, I'm just asking because you go out with these random girls for, give or take, a couple of days, but their personalities…" he stopped as well, fishing the words he thought would completely convey what he was trying to say, "…they're never quite the same."

Shuuichi smiled wryly. "No pattern, you mean?" He shrugged. "It's an adventure every time, I guess."

"I highly doubt that filing through these girls is your way of finding the one you're looking for."

Shuuichi snickered. "Who says I'm _looking _for a girlfriend? I'm just having fun. If I'm not mistaken, Urameshi, you only get to be a teenager once."

Yuusuke rolled his eyes. It figured he would say something like that. The only real girlfriend, per say, that Shuuichi Minamino had ever had was Maya Kitajima, and though the redhead claimed that it was simply just puppy love, their relationship had lasted a good year or so, and taking into consideration that it was Shuuichi, flirt extraordinaire, who was in that relationship, dating Maya meant that she was someone important to him. Of course, the topic of Kitajima was never to be uttered in Shuuichi's presence for fear that he'd verbally lash out at them. There was obviously something that happened between the two that Shuuichi had not wanted to disclose – not even to his closest friends.

"What class…" he stopped speaking as they turned a corner and found Hiei walking down the hallway with a girl, and even more surprising, that he was laughing. Yuusuke rubbed his eyes. "Was that Jaganshi or… some imposter?"

Shuuichi said nothing, his eyes keenly aware of the girl beside Hiei. Licking his lips, he walked down the same hallway and gave Yuusuke a very curt reply. "Physical education."

**Author Notes: **I've actually had this chapter for this new fic written out for forever now, but I was unsure of whether to leave it here or continue a little bit more. I decided to stop it here because the original direction of this fic suddenly got a mind of its own and ran the other way. Curse it. And according to the new plot line, this seemed like the appropriate place to stop.

Yeah… Shuuichi's a snotty, arrogant, narcissistic playboy. Bite me. I wanted to portray him that way. I'm getting tired of the simply SMART and PERFECT Kurama. I wanted a hybrid of Youko Kurama and Shuuichi, and I think this is the closest I'm gonna get.

With summer break coming in close, that means finals is headed my way too. Fortunately, I only have one final to study for, therefore, I'll start updating a bunch of my crap as well as my part of Raven Sin and my collaborated work, "Fireflies." I just need some down-time first before I go ahead and start writing again. I'm physically and mentally fried.

I haven't really proofread this during the span of time I could have since it was finished so please excuse the grammatical blunders. I will fix it in the future.

I haven't updated the KB site yet. I should have done it a long time ago, especially because all the HTML files for it are done – all I need to do is log on to the FTP server and then upload them, but I've been lazy/busy/insert other excuse here. I'm not gonna say when I'll "supposedly" have it done anymore because it never happens. I'll just put it in one of my fic updates IF it does happen to be updated.

Until then, I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of "Sweet and Sour".

**Disclaimers:** Standard disclaimers apply here.


	2. Botan Hanazono Schwartz

**Sweet and Sour**

**Chapter 2 – Botan Hanazono Schwartz**

**By: Diana-Jae**

The very indiscreet and obviously irritated set of curses that washed out of Hiei Jaganshi's mouth turned all heads in the gym towards him. Unembarrassed and paying no heed to the physical education instructor calling to him, most likely to give him a form of punishment for his blatant display of verbal profanity, the aggravated young man turned his head towards the direction where the shuttlecock had been smashed and, consequently, decked him in the head.

Although the physical education class was co-ed, there would be few days where the boys were put on one side of the gym doing one activity and the girls on the other side doing another. The start of the school year was one of those such days, and after the class, as a group, had run through all the stretches, the boys were free to play basketball and the girls grabbed badminton rackets, and the shuttlecocks started flying. A few minutes had not even managed to tick away before Hiei in the middle of a pass dropped the ball at the impact he felt on the side of his head.

Eyes narrowing, he picked up the tiny badminton accessory and stalked over to the girls' end of the gym. "Which of you airhead Meiou females hit me?" he barked.

At that moment, the majority of the young women who were hiding behind their badminton rackets, their eyes wide with surprise and fear, loosened up and, without looking away from Hiei, pointed in the same direction.

Casting his fire-infused gaze towards the direction of their fingers, his next line of cursing barely formed when he realized whom the culprit was. It was the same young woman he had escorted to class. The girl on the other side of the net flashed him a silly grin as she waved a hand and then squeaked out an apology that, if he was not mistaken, was in German. She did not stop there and proceeded to, as Hiei deduced, explain what happened, and once again in her German tongue before somehow reverting to her broken Japanese.

Hiei's arm quickly darted up towards his face as he tried to cover his mouth with his hand and stifle what would surely be laughter. He could not understand the reason why he found her terrible accent so humorous. Quickly turning away, he shoved the shuttlecock into the nearest girl's hands and then proceeded to go back to the boys' end of the gym when the dark, towering figure of Rio Kazunari, Meiou Academy's most popular and most difficult coach, suddenly loomed over Hiei's smaller figure.

"Jaganshi! Are you deaf?" The bigger man bellowed as he bumped the clipboard he was holding on top of Hiei's head lightly. "That mouth of yours is gonna cost you ten laps around the gym."

"What!" Hiei cried out ready to argue.

Coach Kazunari showed no remorse as he blew on his whistle though the young man being chastised was within very close proximity. "Now!"

"Fuck."

The twitching of the coach's eyebrows to show his obvious irritation did not go by unnoticed to Hiei and any other student watching the scene. "Cancel that ten, Jaganshi. Make it twenty! Get going!"

* * *

"It's only the first class of the first day of school, and the sound of giggling Meiou air-heads is already starting to irritate me," Hiei muttered to an amused Shuuichi as they walked out of the boys' locker room. "And the way they look at you," Hiei continued with a shudder. "It looks like they're trying to strip you with their eyes. It's gross, man."

Shuuichi laughed light-heartedly at his friend's discomfort and opted to explain that it wasn't so bad if you imagined those girls guilty of visually stripping him of being in nothing but their underwear.

"Actually," Hiei offered to counter, "I think your fan-club might _like_ it if _you_ did imagine them in their…" The two friends had rounded a corner, and upon discovering the same young lady that had unintentionally smashed the shuttlecock at his head leaning against the wall with her head bowed down, Hiei frowned and blurted, "You."

"I… uhh…," she started hesitantly, a guilty expression washed over her features, "wanted to apologize for hitting you earlier. You've been really nice to me, and I didn't want you to think that the way I wanted to show my gratitude was by smashing the birdie at you."

Hiei raised a brow in question as she laughed nervously at her confession. Girls were an unknown territory to the dark-haired individual, that is, with the exception of Yukina, but Hiei had never considered his twin as a _girl _anyway, so to speak. This was mainly because of his notorious aloof disposition and his hot temper. Most of the young women attending Meiou Academy, and nearby high schools for that matter, did not dare approach him and even attempt a greeting for fear of being snubbed or, worse, verbally executed. When this girl had first bumped into him, she had not known him, and she had simply been asking for directions, but after explosion in class, he hadn't expected her to come back and apologize. And he had assumed the other girls would have warned her about him.

"It was an accident," Hiei replied reluctantly, meanwhile eyeing Shuuichi through the corner of his eyes. "Don't worry about it."

The girl being addressed looked as though she was about to speak again but whatever it was that she was going to say was abruptly interrupted by the cool voice of Shuuichi, who wore a collected visage and a friendly smile. "You certainly do have an arm. Have you thought about joining the tennis team?"

For the first time since the three students had come together, the young lady broke her gaze away from Hiei's and looked over to the redhead standing beside him. There was a tiny hint of befuddlement in her lavender irises as she scrutinized him for a moment before quickly and almost uninterestedly asking, "And who are you?"

If Koto Arashiro, the head of the school gossip column and, perhaps, Shuuichi's biggest fan, had been there at that moment, she would surely have been very excited for the event that had just occurred would have been news indeed for Meiou students. No normal, breathing, red-blooded female had ever managed to resist Shuuichi Minamino's charm, but here was this girl who defied that by treating Shuuichi like any other typical male.

Hiei's eyes had widened subtly and his jaw had dropped just enough at the girl's question and the tone with which she asked it. He looked to his friend to see if the boy had possibly passed out, but to his greater surprise, Shuuichi still wore the same composed expression and complementary smile.

"Minamino. Shuuichi Minamino. Fourth year," he finished calmly before putting out his hand in a gesture for her to produce her own name. "And you, lovely wildflower, may I inquire your name?"

The girl looked at him suspiciously for a moment and then looking back and forth between him and Hiei, finally responded. "Schwartz. Botan Hanazono Schwartz. I'm a fourth year as well."

Shuuichi's smile grew and he leaned in just enough for her to be able to feel his warm breath against her lips without being too indecent and forward. "Ah. Schwartz. So _you're _the daughter of the famous photographer, Jackson Schwartz, and I'm assuming that your mother is model, Airi Hanazono. I had been expecting something a little different."

To Shuuichi's satisfaction, a distinctly pink hue reminiscent of a blush, suddenly colored Botan's cheeks. Stepping away, the frown resting upon her forehead was more visible than the blush across her face. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Shuuichi chuckled much to Botan's unhidden irritation, and this almost seemed to please the redhead. "Nothing, Ms. Schwartz. May I also ask if you carry the same passion for photography as your father?"

"I don't care much for it. Photography isn't my calling," she retorted and then quickly added, "And neither is modeling so you don't need to ask."

"Getting a little defensive, are we?" Shuuichi seemed amused. "Well, your father is certainly the artist – very talented too." Shuuichi never once tore his gaze away from hers, and by this time most girls would have already succumbed to him, but Botan seemed unaffected. "So you gained no interest for the things your parents do. Hmm, well, to each his own, I suppose. You seem to have potential for tennis though, and as I've recommended earlier, you ought to join the team."

"Are you a part of the tennis team?"

"Would it be more to your interest if I said yes?" Botan did not answer producing a light laugh from Shuuichi, who then nodded. "I'm the captain of the tennis team. It's co-ed, but there seem to be more male players than female, and we'd like an even balance. Consequently, any new female members we can get to join the team would be nice."

The frown slowly but not fully faded away as she voiced her uncertain reply. "I'll have to think about it. I'm quite impartial to egotistical males."

Shuuichi laughed again, and choosing to ignore the last part of her comment, responded, "No pressure. If you are interested, try outs will be held in the gym tomorrow after school."

There was a momentary silence between the three teenagers before Botan took another step back. "Well, I should be going. I don't wanna miss my next class." She was about to turn to leave when she paused and inquired Hiei's name. "I'm sorry. I've been really rude. I didn't even ask for your name."

Hiei, who had been slightly interested, and slightly was a lot considering it was Hiei, in the conversation that had been rallied between Botan and Shuuichi tentatively answered, "Jaganshi. Hiei Jaganshi… fourth year."

"I'm glad I met you, Hiei. You're a nice guy." She flashed him a smile and turned to walk away. "I'll see you around school."

Minutes passed before Hiei croaked. "Minamino?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hell just happened here?" When his friend did not reply, he continued, "And don't you find it a little odd that she totally just blew you off?"

"I'll admit that this was out of the ordinary but something about that girl. I like that feisty flavor." He grinned, and Hiei understood that his friend was already calculating the different ways with which he could use to _seduce_ the young lady. "I think Shuuichi Minamino has found himself a nice, little challenge," he replied a little too simply with a hint of mischief. "And I haven't had one since Maya Kitajima."

"Sometimes I think that you're a little too vain for your own damned good, Minamino," Hiei muttered. "Face it, dude. Not every girl's about ready to fall to the ground in worship at your immediate presence."

The redhead looked at his friend and allowed a grin to appear on his face while taking the first step forward towards their next class. "Not right away anyway, but they're bound to."

Hiei chuckled. He wasn't surprised at Shuuichi's response. It'd figure he'd say something like that. He was, after all, Meiou Academy's, Thief of Hearts, after all, and as such, he had yet to fail in stealing the heart of any woman he had his eyes on. "Full of yourself, jack-ass."

* * *

**Author Notes:** Short and just plain WEIRD chapter. Whatever. I was actually struggling to get this out this fast so I'm sorry if the chapter is retarded… like I care. Just kidding. I don't normally updates this quickly, if you hadn't already noticed. But eh, I was like what the hell… I wanna write another chapter.

If it isn't evident, it will be war between Shuuichi and Botan, but that's not the entire story. I'll shoot in plot twists here and there. Koto will definitely add to that. Haha… I hate her, but damn… I can so use her here to my advantage. And not to give anything away, but I say "to my advantage" because she had a big crush on Youko in the show. Haha. Meh, well, I can't have one of my typical AU's without those twisty things. Gotta love em twisty things.

I lost the file for Raven's half of "Fireflies," so until I get that, I can't completely write out my part. Yargh! I'll e-mail her about it, and then get to working on that before I update any other fic so yeah. Rar! This won't be updated until I write out "Fireflies" first cuz I've been procrastinating on that for a while. Not that I haven't been procrastinating on anything else, right? But I really liked "Fireflies" cuz it's cool. You should read it. Bad Diana-Jae! Falsely advertising… haha. Just kidding.

Sorry for typos and grammatical errors, blah-blah-blah. I'll fix it when I can. Hehe.

Well, hope you enjoyed. Comments, suggestions, constructive and destructive criticism are welcome. Thanks so much.

**Standard disclaimers apply.**


	3. Level 15

**Sweet and Sour**

**Chapter 3 – Level 15**

**By: Diana-Jae**

Botan gave a mildly indignant grunt as the events of the previous hour replayed in her mind, which she so preferred to refer to as a jumbled mess. She disliked the one called Shuuichi Minamino from the very first moment she came into contact with him despite the fact that it seemed as if the entire female population of the Meiou Academy student body were madly in love with him.

The rest of her classes after Physical Education had gone by smoothly. Smoothly, that is, until her final class: mathematics. She had always despised mathematics and anything that remotely had to do with numbers. Not only did she have her inanimate adversaries to deal with but the blue haired beauty found it very difficult not to gag at finding that the only seat left in that class was right next to Shuuichi Minamino. By the end of the class session, she had left a beautiful red imprint on the side of his cheek.

Too many of the qualities that he had exhibited reminded her of the things she had tried to escape from America, and she had worked too hard to persuade her mother and father to purchase her an apartment of her own in exchange for her promise not to drop out of school. Botan was determined not to let that arrogant, self-centered boy ruin the reason why she had come to Japan in the first place.

Frustrated with her thoughts, Botan impulsively kicked a pebble that was in her path. Unfortunately, the pebble that she had kicked found a live, moving target, and the recipient of Botan's gift was not in the least bit pleased as wild, colorful, explicit obscenities were howled into the air.

_Why is this happening to me?_ Botan wondered to herself as she placed her palm to her throbbing head. Timidly peeking her lavender irises through the wisps of blue hair that barely covered her eyes, she suddenly found herself becoming exceedingly embarrassed as she recognized the familiar face and figure of the person that was heading at her with fury in his eyes.

"What the fuck is wrong with…" Once again, the sentence was left to trail from his lips as the youth realized who the target of his fury was. Under everyday circumstances, Hiei really wouldn't have given a second thought in having verbally fried the individual in front of him, regardless of gender. However, he was always left to wonder when his verbal execution could never finish what it had begun at the sight of his new classmate's petite figure. "Why are you following me?" Hiei tried again in a tone that was less angry but still had the trademark nonchalance of the male Jaganshi twin.

"I wasn't following you," Botan muttered sheepishly. "I was just…"

"Well what do you have against me?" Hiei interrupted, now showing a hint of displeasure.

"Against you?" Botan stood in front of him with eyes that spoke of curiosity as to what he was suggesting. Most others in her place would have already felt anxiety settle at the pits of their stomach, but this girl before him stood firm in the face of his intense gaze, much to the latter's great astonishment. Hiei rolled his eyes and then quickly bent over to snatch the pebble that had made contact with his head just a minute or so ago.

"This is the second time you've thrown something at me," he replied, shoving the pebble into Botan's hand. "And in the same spot too," he added, pointing to the back of his head where the shuttlecock had hit him earlier that day.

Things suddenly started to come together for the young woman and she laughed nervously while dropping the pebble onto the ground. "Oh. That. I didn't mean to kick that at you. I didn't even know you were in front of me," she began. "I was just irritated thinking about…" Botan stopped mid-sentence as she felt herself beginning to get angry once more, her face flushing a color that settled somewhere between pink and red.

Mistaking the reddish tinge that appeared on Botan's cheeks for embarrassment, Hiei rolled his eyes and began to stroll back in the direction that he was headed. "Let me guess," Hiei offered. "Minamino."

Botan blanched. "Thinking about Minamino? Thinking about that pig!?" Botan was aghast at Hiei's suggestion as she quickly ran up to walk beside him. "What makes you think that I was thinking about him?" she demanded.

"You don't have to pretend that you hate him to hide the fact that you're hot for him, Hanazono," Hiei replied. "It's normal."

"I'm not pretending!" Botan half screamed. "Just because all the other Meiou girls are on his jock doesn't mean that I am. I hate his type. Stupid, womanizing pig. He's the type of guy I try to avoid." And with that, Botan stormed off, leaving Hiei standing in the street trying to fully process what she had just said.

* * *

"Hanazono hates you, Minamino," Hiei replied tartly into the receiver of the telephone, his focus directed more towards the soup that he was cooking for dinner.

"She said that?"

Hiei rolled his eyes. He regretted having mentioned anything at all to his crimson-haired, woman-magnet of a best friend. Shuuichi had initially just called to see if Hiei were going to have dinner at his house, but after mentioning that Kuwabara and Yukina were going to be there _together_, Hiei politely declined, explaining that he was still adjusting to the situation and that he would just eat dinner at home. However, Hiei had made the mistake of explaining what had happened earlier that day.

"Well, she didn't _say_ that she hated _you_," the male Jaganshi twin corrected. "She just said she hated your type." Hiei paused for a moment, remembering how Botan had reacted so angrily towards his accusation that she was just like the other girls of Meiou Academy. "I thought she was just trying to hide the fact that maybe she really did finally fall in love with you…"

"Well, she did slap me," Shuuichi interrupted, recalling the event that took place during the last class of the day, which he just happened to share with the Schwartz' daughter. His attempts to flirt with her had been very bold, much to the dismay and anger of the whole female population of that class, but she had refused every advance he had made. Her reaction should have discouraged Meiou's "Thief of Hearts," but it only fueled his desire to win her heart and body even more. The problem occurred as they moved down the aisles when their mathematics class had come to an end. Shuuichi had meant to just brush by her and casually walk out of the door, but one of his admiring fans deliberately tried to press herself onto him in an attempt to be seen walking along side him causing him to stumble forward, hand swinging over to catch Botan's derriere. The poor boy did not even have time to flinch before he heard a loud smack when Botan's petite hand came into contact with his cheek, and he was neither given the time to explain nor apologize.

"What for?" Hiei asked out of curiosity but decided suddenly that he probably didn't want to hear it, and continued, "Anyway, after she left, I kind of figured she was serious. I think she's mad at me now too."

Shuuichi just chuckled good-naturedly on the other line. "I really like this one, Hiei. She's different and she has energy."

"You like anything with breasts and a…," Hiei muttered in response. "Well, look, I'm cooking dinner. I'll just see you guys tomorrow at school. Tell them I'm sorry that I couldn't make it, and tell Kuwabara not to keep my sister out too late."

"Right. I'll see you tomorrow then."

Hiei tossed the cordless phone on the counter and was about to sip the soup he was stirring to see if it was ready to be taken off of the stove when a tapping sound on his front door put a halt to his decision. Placing the ladle down, Hiei trudged towards the door and swung it open revealing a nearly naked Botan. Both teenagers, upon seeing one another, blushed incredulously. Botan, hair dripping wet with only a towel wrapped around her very petite figure, was about ready to scamper off when she felt Hiei's grip encircle her tiny wrist.

"I…I'm…I'm not stalking you," Botan stammered loudly, her words fumbling from her dewy lips. "Really. I have no idea why I keep running into you."

Hiei, who had already gotten past his embarrassment, narrowed his eyes, crimson staring straight into lavender. "Girl, what kind of crack are you smoking?"

Botan tried to wriggle her arm free from his grip but in vain. "I'm not on drugs, Jaganshi," Botan mumbled, not daring to look at his eyes, one hand firmly clutching the towel at the cleavage of her breasts. "I just got locked out of my apartment."

Hiei looked in both directions of the hallway, trying to figure out where she had come from.

"Room 1523," Botan offered, carefully peering up at him.

"You live next door to me?" Hiei asked incredulously. Not giving Botan a chance to answer, he quickly added, "How the hell did you manage to get locked out of your house wearing just your towel?"

"I was trying to catch the laundry maid before she left, and I just got out of the shower" Botan admitted, referring to the woman who came weekly to the apartment owners that had the money to request the service of having their clothing and such washed.

"You actually have your own laundry maid?" Hiei blurted out, asking the question more to himself rather than directing it towards Botan. "What a brat."

Botan ignored his insult and instead inquired whether she could go through his balcony so that maybe she could possibly climb onto her balcony because if she remembered correctly, she had left the sliding door that led to the balcony unlocked.

Hiei blinked and stared at the girl, dumbfounded that she even asked such a thing. Letting go of her wrist, Hiei walked into his house, motioning with his head for her to come inside. Botan stepped into his apartment gingerly, closing the door behind her and followed the spiky-haired youth into his balcony. The young man was standing, looking over at her balcony, and when he didn't move, Botan tried to prop herself up onto the ledge, when she felt two strong arms tighten around her waist. She yelped and craned her neck around to see the boy rolling his eyes at her.

"You're an idiot. We're on the fifteenth floor of this complex, and you're going to climb your way across from my balcony onto yours. I have no idea why Shuuichi bothers with you."

At the mention of the redhead's name, Botan fumed. "Well you can tell him not to bother even trying to get at me. I've already rejected him," Botan harrumphed. Hiei immediately forgot his surprise at her daring nature to try and climb across to her apartment from such a height at her reaction to his last statement. Hiei almost found this amusing and tried to place her back on the ground at the same time that she was trying desperately to break free from his arms, and with her towel barely hanging on, it was going to inevitably fall off. And fall off it did.

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**Author Notes: **There were a few things that I had to revise for this chapter. So with that said, here's the revised chapter. I would appreciate feedback, comments, constructive criticism, etc. Standards disclaimers apply. Enjoy.


	4. A Delicious Intrigue

**Sweet and Sour**

**Chapter 4 – A Delicious Intrigue**

**By: Diana-Jae**

Hiei had no idea why he had accepted Botan's offer to have dinner with her. Earlier that day, she had unexpectedly arrived at his doorstep dripping wet and only in a bath towel. Even more surprising was his discovery that she was housing in the apartment right beside him. When the small towel that barely wrapped around her already small figure fell on the ground exposing parts of her that he should not have saw, he did not allow her the time to react and possibly smack him in the face the way she had done to Shuuichi earlier that day. Instead, he had casually averted his eyes and proceeded back to walk inside his apartment, leaving the similarly stunned young lady to collect herself and put her towel back on.

Hiei had half-expected her to walk inside a few seconds after him, while the other half had absolutely no idea what to expect. She seemed so unpredictable. There was the possibility that she would actually go through with her initial, albeit completely absurd, idea of climbing from one balcony to the other, but there was also the possibility that she would turn around and yell at him for being a pervert or harp like the woman that she was. To his greater and most unexpected surprise, she chose to do nothing from the assortment of possibilities that he conjured up. The dainty girl wrapped her towel around her body once more, and, instead, chose to follow him inside his abode.

"I'm sorry," came her small voice, "but do you have an extra set of clothes that I could borrow for a few minutes?" She shyly cast her gaze in his direction and added, "Just until I can get back in my apartment."

Hiei stood there for a moment, contemplating her request, while his eyes _unconsciously _began to rove her supple figure. The dark haired youth was never one to let lust take over; he had always left that sort of thing for Shuuichi and the others. In his mind, he hadn't the time for matters such as women and sex. Hiei found himself too pre-occupied with school, work, and taking care of Yukina after the death of their parents. So he was perfectly content with just having his sister and his friends and having wild nights here and there. So it was a wonder when Hiei finally caught himself staring at Meiou's newest, foreign student. Mumbling an indiscernible apology, he quickly turned down the corridor and began rummaging in his closet for something she could throw on.

Once fully clothed, she immediately disappeared, and he had only to assume that the girl really did climb over to her balcony, leaving him astonished, perhaps impressed, at her bold, almost wild, disposition. He wasn't more than a few minutes back at the kitchen stirring his soup when a light tapping at his door interrupted him. Opening the door once more, he was not much surprised to see Botan standing there once more fully clothed in her own attire with his clothes folded neatly under one arm. What did come as a start, however, was when she steadfastly asked him to have dinner with her in her apartment, and even more shocking when the voice he heard, which surely sounded like his own, agreed.

* * *

Hiei found himself wandering around the living room and kitchen of her half-furnished apartment. Although her apartment was located right beside his own, hers happened to be the corner room, which he knew to be more spacious, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. However, the boxes that contained her personal belongings, which were sitting in a messy array, in the main foyer, did not look like very much. There wasn't much in the living room except a black leather couch and an entertainment center with a big screen television that had no cable. With nothing much to look at, Hiei found his gaze on a solitary photo encased in a shiny, black frame sitting on the glass table in the corner beside the couch. Picking it up, he recognized it to be a professional photograph, and in it was a tall and thin, strikingly beautiful woman with a pale face and haunting amethyst eyes standing beside a blonde, blue-eyed, broad-shouldered man with a stoic expression. The man carried himself with pride and prestige, one arm encircling the waist of the woman beside him and a tender hand resting on the shoulder of a blue-haired girl no more than fourteen years of age. Her expression was jubilant, eyes shining with mischief, and a wide, triumphant grin on her face. She was dressed in a black and white uniform with a crest on the blazer that indicated she attended a prestigious school. There was no doubt that the teenager in the photo was the same girl who he seemed unable to get rid of the entire day, and her parents, Jackson and Airi Schwartz.

"Your parents haven't moved in yet?" he asked out of curiosity.

Botan stopped mincing the garlic and looked up at Hiei, who strolled into the kitchen. "Hm?"

"Your apartment is empty."

"Oh." Botan went back to mincing. "I live here by myself. My parents live in California."

Hiei was about to inquire about the need, then, for three bedrooms, but as if reading his mind, Botan continued. "This was the only apartment available when my parents had looked into places I could live and was relatively close to the school, transportation, and stores."

"And here I thought you were just another spoiled brat." He cast a glance at her to see her reaction but was taken aback at the soft giggling that escaped her lips.

"I learned the hard way that money and fame doesn't get you everything." She paused for a moment, an unbecoming frown knitting itself on her forehead. "Or what they _do_ get you." With that response, she went back to making dinner, leaving Hiei to wonder what she meant. He did not press her on the matter, but it would only be a matter of time before he would soon learn the meaning of the words that she had spoken.

* * *

"What's your brother's problem with me anyway?" Kuwabara huffed in a rather annoyed tone as he and his companion waited for the elevator to reach the fifteenth floor of the apartment complex.

His girlfriend as of the summer, Yukina, who stood about two feet beneath him, offered a tinkling laugh as her answer. "Don't be like that. Hiei's just overprotective, but he doesn't have anything against you. It'll just take time for him to get used to the fact that you like me and, more importantly, that I like you."

Kuwabara blushed, not at all a large feat to attain for Yukina, who needed only to show her presence before him to elicit the rose tinge that now graced the sharp and defined features of his face. The doors to the elevator opened and both teenagers stepped out, the bigger of the two still wearing a comical expression on his face. They were narrowing down the corridor, and about to turn the corner when, out of the corner of his eye, Kuwabara caught sight of Hiei at the apartment door just beside his and Yukina's. Had it not been for his swift reflexes, Kuwabara might have expressed his disgruntled feelings toward Yukina's elder twin brother; however, he was able to hold in all of the absurdities that could have spewed from his mouth and pulled himself and Yukina back behind the corner. Curiosity was the main motivator in the almost intuitive motion of his hand clamping over the lips of the startled teenage girl beside him for it was an odd thing to find Hiei in the company of someone other than himself, Yukina, or his close circle of friends.

Suspiciously peering around the corner, Kuwabara found that Hiei's trademark aloof demeanor, to his jaw-dropping astonishment, was swayed by an individual standing on the other side of the door that he was currently unable to see. Under any normal circumstances, Hiei would have detected his twin and Kuwabara's presence a long time ago, but he had yet to notice them. The fact that a small chuckle managed to escape the iron gates that were Hiei's mouth was shocking in itself, but when the object of Hiei's "carelessness" was revealed to him, he almost screamed in what could have been described as maniacal glee. Rumors, gobs of it – and Shuuichi would be at the center of it, very unpleased.

* * *

Kuwabara had been sitting in front of Hiei with a silly grin slapped across his face for the past ten minutes, much to the latter's aggravation. Yukina, who watched her boyfriend delighting in every second of what he knew, wriggled uncomfortably in her seat beside them as Hiei transferred his gaze from the carrot-top to her.

"You're just provoking his anger," Yukina finally spoke up to a still silly-faced Kuwabara.

Sensing something amiss but having no desire in trying to pull it out of Kuwabara or intimidating his twin, Hiei grunted and headed to his room.

"Do whatever you guys want," he called back to them before entering his room. They heard a crash before Hiei popped his head back out of the doorframe. "And you guys better not do anything that would make me an uncle anytime soon." His glare was directed more at Kuwabara, and the latter gulped while his girlfriend just giggled nervously beside him.

As soon as the couple heard Hiei's bedroom door close, both engaged in a whispering frenzy. Although no one would ever suspect Yukina of ever being part of the gossip body, the reality was that there was none in all of Meiou Academy who was exempt from being intrigued by anything juicy that happened to any of its members, most especially if it involved Shuuichi Minamino and a female member of the student body. In this particular case, however, her twin somehow got thrown into the mix, and that, in itself, was juicy enough because as far as everyone knew, Hiei was just not the type to show interest in anything, much more women. So it wasn't too surprising to find Yukina just as hysterical as her giddy boyfriend.

"How long do you suppose…?"

"I don't even know how long _I'll _be able to keep my mouth shut," Kuwabara interjected implying how quickly the news might travel. "And knowing Arashiro, she'll be able to sniff this story out the second she sees any one of them."

For the first time since the two of them had seen Hiei with Botan, Yukina threw Kuwabara a worried glance. Should Koto Arashiro get a hold of the news, Hiei's name will circle around the school like wildfire, and she knew for a fact that Hiei would go on a rampage should he be a target of Koto's gossip columns.

Sensing this, Kuwabara's face blanked for a moment before twisting itself into the same worried expression. Having been friends for a very long time now, it was no mystery that Hiei was a like a walking time bomb. Set him off, and he'll explode. And this wasn't a good thing for their circle of friends either because when Hiei was angry, he hated everyone and would not speak for days. "I know."

"Should we try to cover it up?" Yukina suggested.

"How the hell do we try to cover up something that big? Arashiro isn't blind, Yukina," Kuwabara stated matter-of-factly and then tentatively, "Maybe we should see how things play out tomorrow and then intervene if things look like they'll get bad."

Both teenagers were silent as they averted their gazes towards the dark hallway that lead to Hiei's bedroom.

* * *

Inside the room, however, Hiei was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, contemplating the events that had occurred that day. This was not the way things would have unfolded had it been a similar occurrence. Despite the alternate course of action that had taken place in every aspect of his life that day, he was not in any way bothered by it. In fact, he found it slightly thrilling. And to think what Minamino would have to say to him should he ever find out what happened that day. This, of course, was not to say that Hiei had fallen for the blue-haired transfer student because as far as the world knew, Hiei was unintelligent in the area of love and affection, and if he, in fact, were falling for her, he had absolutely no idea that he was. He simply thought that things had come about in a very unordinary fashion, which he found to be exciting since life was starting to get boring playing out the way they were everyday in the same way.

Hiei was also not unaware of the talk that had been rallied back and forth between his younger sibling and Kuwabara. In fact, he heard everything they said, verbatim, through the thin partition that made up the walls, which separated his bedroom from everything outside. And frankly, it didn't matter to him; it wasn't like Arashiro was intimidating. Most probably, Arashiro may find him to be the one worth avoiding. And with that, his crimson irises wandered over to the screen of his cell phone where his new found friend's number was displayed.

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**Author Notes: **Well, here's the fourth installation to _Sweet and Sour_. I hope you guys like it. I would appreciate any feedback, comments, constructive criticism, etc. Standard disclaimers apply. Enjoy.


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